Modern Vegetarian Restaurants

Jeremy and Deanie Fox are the husband-and-wife team behind what is arguably the country’s most ambitious vegetable-driven restaurant. Much of the produce used in their dishes, including lemon cucumbers with miso bagna cauda, and blackened melon with basil and avocado, comes from their biodynamic garden.

Great vegetarian food without the hippie clichés used to be as rare as, well, a Green Zebra tomato. Not anymore, thanks to a sleek decor and bean-sprout-free dishes like corn-crusted squash blossom with queso fresco and salsa verde, and black bean potstickers with roasted plum.

At this Old Fourth Ward neighborhood café, chef-owner David Sweeney changes the small menu (a few salads, soups, and entrées) daily. Saturday night is organic pizza night, with toppings ranging from butternut squash, sweet onion, and jalapeño to crimini mushrooms sautéed in Riesling and thyme.

It’s the rare restaurant that successfully blends vegetarian and carnivorous food philosophies on one menu. But this place (café by day, restaurant by night) does just that, with an organic-heavy menu including golden beet ravioli, buffalo burgers, and pizzas.

Chef Magdiale Wolmark’s small but smart menu includes a daily antipasto, salads, and pastas inspired by the restaurant’s kitchen garden. On Thursdays, the restaurant gives a tour of its garden, followed by a three-course tasting.

After stints at Teany and other big-name spots on the New York vegetarian circuit, Amanda Cohen opened this small, casual East Village spot, with only 18 seats. Cohen’s “dirt candy” (a.k.a. vegetables) manifests itself in dishes like sheep’s-milk ricotta fritters with green-tomato preserves and tomato sorbet, and portobello mousse with truffled pear.

For a well-rounded local L.A. food experience, you’ll want to visit Langer’s for pastrami on rye, Musso & Frank Grill for a gin Martini, and this Hollywood hangout for macrobiotic sushi, rice bowls, and The Big Macro, a veggie burger with special sauce, tofu cheese, pickles, and sprouts on a house-baked whole wheat bun.

This Phinney Ridge neighborhood spot was an early proponent of the farm-to-table philosophy. The best of Pacific Northwest produce shows up in dishes like a pickled Bing cherry salad, and fregola served risotto-style with smoked corn cream and Yakima melon.

Few cuisines elevate the vegetable to such great heights as those from the eastern Mediterranean. Chef Ana Sortun does that tradition proud with her riffs on classic dishes (Armenian bean and walnut pÃ¢té with house-made string cheese; spinach falafel with beets) at her award-winning restaurant. A five-course vegetarian tasting menu is available as well.